Pakistan says the kidnapped employee of its Baghdad embassy appears to have been abducted for ransom.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas told reporters in Islamabad Monday that Malik Mohammed Javed is safe and well and is in contact with senior officials at the embassy.

Mr. Javed has not been seen since Saturday, when he left home for evening prayers at a Baghdad Mosque.

Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past year, some by groups with political demands, others by criminals seeking ransom.

There has been no word about three Romanian journalists and an Iraqi assistant kidnapped nearly two weeks ago on the outskirts of Baghdad. The fate of an Iraqi general abducted last week is also not known.